AT WORK
Silvino in his living room. If he has a way of cataloging his projects, I’ve yet to figure it out.
Silvino Gamboa, Silvino’s ProFlash RX, Los Angeles, CA
In the photo industry, there are unsung heroes whose talents keep the whole machine whirring along with relative smoothness. For Silvino Gamboa – known simply as “Silvino,” just as Elvis and Cher have no need for surnames – calling him a hero may be selling him short.
So let’s call him a legend. Yeah, that sounds much better.
Silvino is so good at repairing busted lighting equipment that photographers and dealers all around the Lower Forty-Eight ship their broken gear for him to fix. While his first job in Los Angeles was working as Tommy Chong’s landscaper – yes, really – Silvino started learning the art of flash maintenance in 1977 when his friend offered him an entry-level job at Norman Flash headquarters. In 1989, Silvino went into business for himself as Silvino’s ProFlash RX, operating out of a one-car garage next to Gold’s Gym in Hollywood.
Today, Silvino works out of his central Hollywood home, and his living room and kitchen double as his repair shop. The whole operation resembles a location yanked from the original STAR WARS, but don’t let the superficial clutter fool you. Not once have I seen Silvino so much as hesitate while retrieving whatever device or part he needs. His outfit is organized in a way that makes sense only to him, and luckily, Silvino’s the only one who needs to know.
Here’s to you, flash-man.
Silvino is the patron saint of flash and strobe repair.
Nate Nix fires up the tubing from which he made a beautiful ornament as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
Nate Nix, Glassworks, Harmony, CA
The town of Harmony, tucked just north of Morro Bay on the Central Coast, has a population of only 18 people. More people have been in Fleetwood Mac than can call Harmony their home.
While I was driving south on Pacific Coast Highway from Monterey back to Angeles, I exited into Harmony to stretch my feet for a few minutes. Luckily, a few minutes is all one needs to circumnavigate the town.
I ducked into the Harmony Glassworks, and I struck up a conversation with Nate Nix, the shop’s senior glassblower. Nate’s been at the Glassworks for twenty years. As we chatted, Nate and I realized that we had likely met each other briefly in 2000 when my family went on a summer road trip to the San Francisco Bay Area and made a pit-stop in Harmony.
When I asked him how glassblowing worked, Nate did me one better and showed me. His furnace was pre-heated, and so he took me through his process of making a glass rosebud in quick fashion.
You can learn things from anyone you meet if you ask the right questions
Creativity isn’t just Nate’s job – it’s Nate’s ethos.
Brittany (right) holds down her fireworks fortress while Della looks on.
Della & Brittany, Fireworks Stand, Twin Falls, ID
As I was making my way on the interstate from Boise en route to Provo, I stopped for breakfast in the town of Twin Falls. I’d parked my car next to a roadside fireworks stand, one of hundreds that dot the northern United States each summer. I had passed by dozens of them over the course of my recent travels, and since I had never gone to such a stand (fireworks sales being illegal in Los Angeles, and all), I sauntered over to see what was up.
Della was overseeing the stand along with her 15 year-old granddaughter, Brittany, who had traveled from Montana to stay the summer in Idaho with her father, the owner of several fireworks retailers around the state. Business was slow that day – it was 45ºF in July, despite the fact that it was 92ºF two days prior – so the two of them were more than happy to shoot the breeze.
Now THESE are my type of explosives.
Della was surprised yet delighted that the fireworks stand provoked such interest in me.
Ryan stands among his inventory of the hottest, freshest merch in the wrestling business. Rarely do I encounter a person who is living their dream to such a degree.
There wasn’t a single moment during my time at Ryan’s shop in which he wasn’t smiling. The man is like a bodyslam Buddha (don’t tell him I called him that!).
Ryan Barkan, Pro Wrestling Tees, Chicago, IL
I love professional wrestling, and I don’t give one hot damn who knows it. In fact, I have a collection of portraits of many independent heroes of the ring. You should go check it out.
Pro Wrestling Tees is tucked away in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood, and it has been a nexus of pro wrestling fandom and culture since founder Ryan Barkan launched the venture in 2013.
Barkan, who had started up his One Hour Tees store in 2008, first got into the business of pro wrestling apparel when the legendary CM Punk ordered a custom T-shirt on short notice for a live WWE broadcast. Having been a wrestling fanatic his entire life, the match (no pun intended) was perfect. Today, Pro Wrestling Tees handles the apparel manufacturing not only for entire wrestling promotions but for individual performers working on the indie circuits. The company gives a fair-and-square 50% of revenues to the respective wrestler, manager, or podcaster when their merch is sold, providing a much-needed income stream in the often unforgiving lives of performers living gig-to-gig.
Pro Wrestling Tees is as much a museum and pilgrimage site as it is a store, featuring championship titles, costumes from the legends of wrestling, custom art commissions, and more.
One million bonus points…
…if you can guess each legendary wrestler from their action-figure silhouette.